January 8, 2008

Day Four: Wartsila & Travel to Bangalore
The ringing phone woke me at 6:15 and I met Scott Clark for a run: our last Mumbai morning. While still in twilight, the city was rising, with women stoking fires, men waiting for buses, and children running to their school bus stops. We caught up with another runner and started talking to him. He was in the navy, training for the Mumbai half-marathon coming up next week. We ran up to the Hilton hotel (recommended by the Taj President staff) and followed the sea along the Queen's Necklace, a long, curved street lined with lamps that sparkled through the smoggy sunrise. Traffic became more frantic as we returned; our timing was superb.

After another great breakfast and a continuation of my conversation with Ravi Iyer, the Berkeley professor/consultant, who just happened to be eating at the same time at the neighboring table, we met the Wartsila executives. We discussed the Indian economic outlook, the shipbuilding industry, the company's IT strategy, and the dynamics of business in India. A transcript of the interaction is found here.

After the meeting, we took a long bus ride through the crowded Mumbai roads. Calling the traffic a result of bottlenecks is an understatement. It is more like an hourglass.

The airport was small but modern, with wireless internet access and huge flat-screen TV's. Security was nominal, and no one asked to see my ID ever. We took a tram to the plane and saw the setting sun across the runways. The flight was short and pleasant, and included dinner, which was slightly different from the other Indian fare. Upon arrival, we crammed into a roughly 50 foot conveyor where people three or four deep scrambled to grab their bags.

Walking out of the airport was refreshing with noticeably cleaner air, well-lit streets, no beggars, minimal trash, and a more modern feel overall. Driving to our hotel in a bus, several fresh sights caught my eyes: no one sleeping in the streets, signs that matched the stores below, and a generally more casual pace of life. The hotel was remarkable and my room was much nicer than the prior location, with hardwood floors, a king-size bed, a single bird-of-paradise vased before a mirror, a large flat-screen TV, and attractive furniture. My request for an iron was fulfilled within a few minutes, and after preparing for the coming day I went to bed at about 11:30.